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In today’s fast-paced world, it is becoming more and more common to shop for furniture online. Two quick clicks and your new piece arrives in two days. Could it get any easier? Of course, with convenience comes a bit of mystery.

It can be hard to know exactly what you’re getting, where you’re getting it from, and if it will stand the test of time. With so many brands and options available to you, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to all things furniture in an effort to help you find the best furniture for you.

This guide is going to break down the best furniture, room-by-room, brand-by-brand, and let you virtually try out thousands of furniture pieces all in one place.

Our Furniture Reviews

Below we’ve listed all of the furniture reviews completed to date. As we test and review more furniture pieces we will continue to update this table.

Best Living Room Furniture

For many people, the living room is the area where they spend the majority of their time.

In modern families, this room generally serves many functions— including eating, drinking, gaming, socializing, and a variety of other activities.

It’s where life happens. Here are some best furniture pieces for designing your perfect living room.

Living Room Decor

When you’re bringing together the pieces for your living room design, start with your favorites and build a design around that. It could be a favorite armchair, art, or area rug.

Whatever it is, take note of the materials, colors, and overall design. As you’re pulling in other pieces, think of this favorite piece. Does the new accessory that you’re trying to add complement or compete?

Living Room Area Rugs

When selecting an area rug for your living room, consider how it should align with your existing furniture. For larger rooms, it is best to have a rug that your whole sofa and coffee table can sit on.

If size is an issue, you can also consider downsizing to a rug that only the front legs of the sofa and the coffee table fit on. This will still help to “ground” the space without taking up as much room.

Best Sofa & Couches

The following products are some of the best sofas and couches for your living room. We’re definitely a bit partial to many of the new online sofa brands, as you can get such a high quality piece of furniture without all of the overhead.

Below we’re going to walk through some of our favorite sofas and couches you can find online.

The Joybird furniture collection includes a wide range of furniture that extends beyond the living room, including sofas, chairs, bedroom furniture, tables, media and storage, and home decor accessories.

The company even have a line of quick ship furniture that ships within three days. Joybird furniture is designed in Los Angeles, CA and manufactured in Mexico—priding themselves on custom orders, employee satisfaction, and artisan craftsmanship.

Burrow

Burrow is a furniture company that believes that you should stick with what you’re good at. Consequently, Burrow sells one couch on its site, though there are many variations. You can get this “couch” as an armchair, love seat, sofa, or the XL “King Sofa.” Next, you pick your upholstery and leg stain.

There are five fabric options and three stain options. You can select from low or high armrests and choose to add an ottoman or chaise section to finish out the piece.

Sixpenny

Sixpenny offers three distinct collections within their home furniture line—Archive, Foundry, and Nest, which each offers a varying style of design.

The company offers living room furniture, slipcovers, dining tables, storage cabinets, office furniture and more. Sixpenny is a self-proclaimed group of “do-gooders”, donating 6% of net proceeds towards community-building partnerships.

While there is no physical storefront for Sixpenny, there is a bustling online presence with the concept of a traveling “Roadshop” where the company travels to different cities, allowing people to try out the product.

What about recliners?

This is an area we want to tackle more in the future, but for now, we haven’t done the research or testing. If you have suggestions for specific recliner brands you think we should cover please let us know here.

In the mean time, a friend of Modern Castle has put together a pretty good resource on the best recliners here. It’s a good starting place if you’re starting your search for a recliner online.

Best Kitchen Furniture

The needs for kitchen furniture can greatly vary based on a person’s personal space and preferences.

From traditional dining sets to compact bar stools and islands, when selecting the best kitchen furniture for your needs, you’ll want to think about your lifestyle and how you use your kitchen currently.

Kitchen furniture needs to be extremely durable and have a cleanable surface. Non-porous stone and hardwoods are great options for countertops and tables.

To help ground a dining area, you may want to consider adding an area rug underneath any dining table you include in your design.

Kitchen Bar Stools

Bar stools can be a quick and easy way to provide enough seating when you need it, yet subtle and sleek when you don’t. Modern kitchen bar stools can be traditional, using wood and an upholstered back like this bar stool.

Trendy bar stools can be painted metal for an industrial or farmhouse chic look, like this bar stool.

Kitchen Area Rugs

Area rugs in the kitchen may sound like a cleaning nightmare, but they can be a helpful addition. Outdoor rugs can be used in kitchens as a runner between countertops and islands or under dining areas.

If your feet ache while you cook or do dishes, consider adding a padded kitchen mat. These small accents can really help to bring together the overall design.

Best Office Furniture

Whether you work from home, or commute in, the design of your office furniture can have a large impact on your overall productivity and comfort during the day.

If you have the flexibility to adjust your office furniture, here are some great tips on how to maximize your work space using smart office furniture.

Office furniture serves many functions and needs to be designed to align with the way you work. Considering details like size, storage, materials, accessibility, and comfort is important to the overall success of your office space design.

Office Desks

When shopping for a desk, think about the main tasks you do there. How much space do you need to complete these tasks?

Do you need added features like drawers, shelving, or lockable storage for accessories or tools that you keep at your desk? Thinking about these features ahead of time can help you find a desk that meets all your needs.

Office Chairs

A good office area is only as good as the chair that accompanies it. A good chair can be vital to your overall comfort during the work day.

When shopping for office chairs, look at the overall features of the chair, including: design, materials, construction, lumbar support, customization, and of course, price. Also, consider how many hours a day you will be sitting in it.

Commercial Office Desks

If you own a small business or office from your home, commercial office furniture may be the higher quality goods you’re needing.

Commercial office furniture is used day-in and day-out and is built to stand up to rigorous use. It includes joined desking systems, filing systems, training tables, reception desks, and everything in between.

Best Kid’s Furniture

When you’ve got little ones running around durability and safety are two of the top concerns that need to be addressed.

Depending on your child’s age, you may need to be cautious of sharp corners, glass, or pinch points.

The best toddler furniture uses rounded corners and durable materials, like wood, plastic, or composite material. As your child ages, you may want to consider additional features like storage or adjustable-height furniture.

Playroom Furniture

A child’s playroom serves two main purposes: a place to play as well as a place to put away.

When selecting furniture for the playroom, think about the kinds of activities that your child enjoys and how much space that activity generally takes up. Consider the most important items to include, whether that be a soft rug for crawling, ample storage, or a kid-height activity table.

Kid Furniture Sets

For a child’s room, furniture sets can be a great way to get a collection of pieces at a reduced cost. Take the design work out by pairing a bed (or crib), side table, and dresser in one complete package.

Furniture sets can be designed for one particular age group, or with an adjustable style that transitions as the child ages, turning into more age-appropriate furniture.

Best Furniture Company

The best furniture brands today are not necessarily the same as they were 20 years ago.

In today’s market, there are essentially three different avenues you can take when shopping for home furniture:

Big-Box Warehouse

Branded Stores

Smaller Start-Ups

Big-Box Warehouses

Big-box warehouses includes vendors like Amazon, Wayfair, Joss and Main, Jet, etc. They sell a variety of manufacturers under one roof.

They serve as a digital marketplace for individual small companies to sell furniture to the masses, while keeping the individual company’s name associated with the product.

Branded Stores

Branded stores include retailers like West Elm, Crate & Barrel, CB2, and Pottery Barn. These are high-end brick-and-mortar design stores, but also have an active online presence. They typically have gorgeous images and show how you can use their products and furniture to design your whole home from top to bottom.

These brands are successful by creating a cult-like following. In certain groups, it becomes attractive to say the label that is on your furniture, which is where a high-end brand name really can roll off the tongue.

Online Start-Ups

Don’t underestimate the little guy. Another large portion of the furniture market is controlled by motivated small start-ups with a product and a dream. These companies carve out creative niches in the furniture market and brand it heavily with their mantra. Stories sell sofas. It’s as simple as that.

Taking a unique idea, like flat pack furniture, or affordable modern looks, allow these smaller companies to really dig into the market and build their market around the product. Burrow and Campaign Livingare great examples.

Best Furniture Manufacturers

Within the umbrella of big-box furniture brands, the majority of them are online entities. The following companies represent a large variety of this market and below we highlight some of their most attractive furniture pieces.

Amazon

Amazon was founded in 1994 and generated $177 billion in revenue last year (2017). The company features a variety of products, reaching far outside the furniture market.

Famous for its 2-day “Prime” shipping and easy returns, Amazon has become a popular hub for people to search the online marketplace. Due to its high volume of users, Amazon is able to offer multiple reviews from real users, which helps to validate products for people considering purchasing.

Amazon even offers the Amazon Vine Program to help serve as an incentive for people to write reviews. It is an invitation-only program that yields free products from Amazon in exchange for helpful, informative reviews.

It offers free shipping on all items (over $49), no membership needed. The individual manufacturers featured on Wayfair vary, and you can sort product based solely on manufacturer if you like the look of a certain collection or series.

Wayfair offers 30-day returns, with an extended policy for holiday orders placed between November 1 and December 31. With any returns, you do have to pay the return cost. Wedding registry returns can receive a Wayfair credit for up to 90 days from the date of delivery.

Wayfair also operates quite a few side niche websites, like Joss and Main and AllModern, which are curated websites that cater specific design styles.

Hayneedle

Hayneedle was founded in 2002 and generated $350 million in revenue last year (2017). It is certainly a smaller company, based in Omaha, Nebraska, but offers many of the same product styles as Wayfair and Amazon.

On Hayneedle, you can shop via the search bar, category, or inspiration styles. The pages of inspiration styles help users to pair together different items for a cohesive and well-designed look.

Branded Stores

Outside of these large-scale retailers, there is also a wide variety of branded stores that focus on bringing furniture under the umbrella of their encompassing brand. There are no private listed manufacturers, although some stores will introduce collaborations or new “collections” with private entities.

Many times, these partnerships are for a limited time to feature a specific product line and are phased out later. Branded stores generally have a store front or online presence.

Target

The history of Target dates back to 1902 when it was officially founded as Goodfellow Dry Goods. Today, the company operates over 1,800 storefronts and had a revenue of $71 billion last year (2017.) Of course, Target is well known for many items, including home goods, groceries, or even the famous $1 One Spot.

For Target furniture, there are online or in-store options. Target carries a variety of styles and collections, with a few exclusive furniture brands to shop from.

Some of its most popular collections include:

OpalHouse

Opalhouse is a mix of bright and eclectic furniture, blending bold textures with pops of color for a unique look.

IKEA

IKEA was founded in 1943 as a Swedish company, featuring ready-to-assemble furniture, as well as kitchen and home accessories, with a solid selection in stores across the globe or online at the touch of a button.

IKEA is most well known for its low prices and assembly.

Many IKEA pieces come with instructions that don’t even use words. Armed with a series of illustrations and an Allen wrench, you can create your own dining table, crib, dresser, or anything in between.Check Prices

Smaller Start-Ups

Small start-up furniture dealers represent a smaller, but mighty piece of the furniture market. They are generally developed in specific niches of furniture so as to not compete directly with the types of pieces that are sold on big box warehouse sites or even branded stores.

Small start-ups are distinctively smaller and passionate, and they thrive on unique approaches to the furniture market.

Below are several smaller niche furniture start-ups you may want to check out:

Choosing the Best Furniture, Final Thoughts

For most of us, finding the best furniture pieces for home takes time. You have to understand your personal style, your budget, what works in the room, and what you functionally need to make the livable space you want to create.

Our advice? Don’t rush it.

Take your time to consider what works best for your needs and desires and slowly start building up. It’s much easier to add pieces or do a single room at a time than to try and do your entire home in one fell swoop.

If you’re still not sure what furniture is going to work best for you feel free to send us an email here. We’re always available to help!

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